1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color photographic light-sensitive material having a high sensitivity, a high sharpness, and an improved print quality.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in accordance with an increase in the sensitivity of the color negative photographic light-sensitive material, the graininess and sharpness have been greatly improved. For the purpose of increasing the color reproducibility, many attempts have been conducted to improve the color saturation by enhancing a masking using a colored coupler, as disclosed, in, e.g., JP-A-61-221748, JP-A-62-3253, JP-A-61-43743, JP-A-62-160448 and JP-A-160449.
However, the enhancement of a masking using a magenta colored coupler entails the drawback of a decrease in the sensitivity of a red-sensitive layer. JP-A-1-128067 discloses a technique of making the ratio of the magenta colored cyan coupler in a lower-speed red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer, higher than that of a higher-speed red-sensitive emulsion layer. JP-A-2-190847 discloses a technique of adding 80 wt % or more of the total magenta colored cyan coupler to the second highest red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer of the three-layered red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer unit, to supplement an insufficient masking. However, addition of a magenta colored cyan coupler in a red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer, by itself, does not solve the problem of a decrease in sensitivity, and a satisfactory sharpness, and print quality cannot be achieved.